In a world with an increasing aged population, a major health concern for the scientific community is the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are the most widespread ND, each having a significant impact on quality of life due to the progressive loss of fundamental human abilities like thinking, moving, breathing, and speaking. ND share common characteristics, such as the accumulation of misfolded proteins and the degeneration or loss of neurons in specific brain regions that lead to a distinct array of symptoms for each ND. Although the pathophysiology of these disorders is not fully characterized, neurodegeneration and neuronal death are a consequence of multiple events such as protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, elevation of oxidative stress, metal ion dyshomeostasis, alterations of lysosome system, and neuroinflammation.
Treatments for ND remain limited and there are currently no known cures or disease-modifying medicines that can reverse the changes in brain function caused by any ND. A deeper understanding of the basic underlying mechanisms will facilitate progress on the discovery of more effective therapies. Since ancient times, people have used plants as food and medicine, and they have developed understanding of their therapeutic properties. These botanicals constitute the basis of traditional medicine of different cultures all over the world. Both medicinal plants as well as nutraceuticals represent promising alternatives for the management of many diseases, including ND. In this regard, we believe that phytoconstituents can contribute significantly to the creation of novel, all-encompassing strategies for intervening with ND.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to bring together leading research focusing on the therapeutic potential of natural products from plants in the development of ND interventions. The Research Topic will include studies describing how the molecular properties (structure and purity) of medicinal plants and nutraceuticals, as well as their derived natural products, can modulate cellular events or molecular pathways to potentially improve brain health and function using in vitro systems that emulate ND features. Equally, in vivo models of ND would also be suitable for this collection.
We welcome Original Research and Review articles related to plant-derived natural products targeting the following subtopics, but not limited to:
Protein aggregation (alpha-synuclein, beta-amyloid peptide, tau protein)
Modulation of neuroinflammation
Mitochondrial dysfunction
Oxidative stress Metal dyshomeostasis and ferroptosis Neuroprotection
In a world with an increasing aged population, a major health concern for the scientific community is the prevalence of neurodegenerative diseases (ND). Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Huntington’s disease, and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are the most widespread ND, each having a significant impact on quality of life due to the progressive loss of fundamental human abilities like thinking, moving, breathing, and speaking. ND share common characteristics, such as the accumulation of misfolded proteins and the degeneration or loss of neurons in specific brain regions that lead to a distinct array of symptoms for each ND. Although the pathophysiology of these disorders is not fully characterized, neurodegeneration and neuronal death are a consequence of multiple events such as protein aggregation, mitochondrial dysfunction, elevation of oxidative stress, metal ion dyshomeostasis, alterations of lysosome system, and neuroinflammation.
Treatments for ND remain limited and there are currently no known cures or disease-modifying medicines that can reverse the changes in brain function caused by any ND. A deeper understanding of the basic underlying mechanisms will facilitate progress on the discovery of more effective therapies. Since ancient times, people have used plants as food and medicine, and they have developed understanding of their therapeutic properties. These botanicals constitute the basis of traditional medicine of different cultures all over the world. Both medicinal plants as well as nutraceuticals represent promising alternatives for the management of many diseases, including ND. In this regard, we believe that phytoconstituents can contribute significantly to the creation of novel, all-encompassing strategies for intervening with ND.
The overarching goal of this Research Topic is to bring together leading research focusing on the therapeutic potential of natural products from plants in the development of ND interventions. The Research Topic will include studies describing how the molecular properties (structure and purity) of medicinal plants and nutraceuticals, as well as their derived natural products, can modulate cellular events or molecular pathways to potentially improve brain health and function using in vitro systems that emulate ND features. Equally, in vivo models of ND would also be suitable for this collection.
We welcome Original Research and Review articles related to plant-derived natural products targeting the following subtopics, but not limited to:
Protein aggregation (alpha-synuclein, beta-amyloid peptide, tau protein)
Modulation of neuroinflammation
Mitochondrial dysfunction
Oxidative stress Metal dyshomeostasis and ferroptosis Neuroprotection